What’s a Multiplicity?

September 18, 2016

It’s a fancy word I use to talk about the way I like playing Skyrim. Many characters, one world.

Normally in a game, you have one character, and explore the world, do all the quest, win all the fancy swords, etc. But Skyrim is big. It’s huge, and that’s before using mods.There are lots of different ways to play the game, factions to join, and stories to tell. I wanted to tell them all, but it always feels weird doing it with one character. Am I a blacksmith who grows into a legendary warrior? A humble student who masters summoned creatures? A gentleman thief, or an Imperial patriot?

Now, the obvious answer to tell all those stories is to do a thing and start again. And I did that for a while. But you have to go through the beginning, build up to homestead, and jump through hoops to get to the story you want to tell. Not to mention that the events of all of those stories never touch each other. I wanted more. I wanted those stories to intertwine, and the ability to shift between stories and specializations when I got bored of them, while preserving those results.

Enter the multiplicity.

Using the showracemenu console command, along with the save presets function of the RaceMenu mod, we’ve created sixteen characters, each with their own story to tell. Warlocks and warriors, knights and nobles, they all have a place, and as the game progresses, their positions in the world will become more defined. We can move between them whenever we choose, and dig through those stories while playing the game. It all lives in this spreadsheet.

Frequently Asked Questions

“Why so many characters?”

There are a lot of different quest lines to explore, moreso with the amount of mods involved, so there’s lots of things to do. I prefer it when characters have a clearer arc, rather than becoming king of the universe, though I definitely hope to have some “Get the band back together” moments later on.

“What’s the Unlock column?”

The Unlock column defines when someone’s story starts. They’re objectives that need to be completed before that character can enter play. It makes things a little more fun, and helps keep the paralysis of choice between sixteen characters down to a minimum.